Hobbies

Singing, Flute, Piano, Water Activities (swimming, diving, water ballet, water skiing, etc.), Flower Gardening, Riding Bike with my kids, Sports (football, basketball, etc.), 4-wheeling, Ultimate Fighter, Pageants (coaching, competing, judging, emcee, and entertaining) 

Community Involvement

Sarah has been commited to volunteering and helping out her community in any way possible.  In her teen years she was involved in the following:
*Jump Rope for Heart, Local Blood Drives, Model for Charitable Events, Children's Miracle Network, Visiting Children in Local Hospitals, Singing for numerous banquets, charitable events, churches, etc.

Since getting married in 1998, Sarah has still been passionate about volunteering and even with two kids and a full-time career, she finds time to be involved with the following:
*Mercy Hospital, Coon Rapids, MN - 300+ Volunteer Hours in the Emergency Room as a Family Liason '99 - '01
*Buffalo Nursing Home Church - Monthly Worship Singer
*Singing for Numerous Events - Buffalo H.S. Hockey, Centennial Wrestling Tournaments, Talent Contests, Pageants, Churches, Horse Shows, Fashion Shows
*CAbi Model

"Know Before U Mow"

At the young age of 4, my foot was caught in a riding lawnmower!!  It was early May, my younger sister had Roseola and my mom had asked me to come outside and let her know when she would start to cry.  We had two long rows of pine trees in our yard and she was mowing around them when I came up along the side that doesn't blow out the grass, as told.  She did not see me and the front wheel knocked me over.  The sole of my left tennis shoe got caught in the guard of the lawnmower.  My mom immediately shut off the blades, took it out of gear and lifted up the clutch.  By doing so, the lawnmower lunged forward a bit and being only 4, I thought it was going to run over my foot.  I took the other to push it free and it went right into the blades.  Still rotating, my foot was struck four times by the lawnmower blades before they stopped!  Frantic, my mom pulled me out and carried me to the kitchen table where she covered my foot.  I was rushed to a local hospital where a Vietnam Veteran Surgeon reattached my big toe which had almost been cut off.  Besides almost loosing my big toe, the blades also cut across the top of my foot shattering the bones, peeling my achilles, breaking both bones above my ankle, and taking a part of my heel bone.  I spent four weeks in Milwaukee Wisconsin's Columbia Hospital where I underwent numerous reconstructive surgeries to try and fix my foot so I would be able to walk and wear shoes.  At first they tried single thickness skin graphs from my upper thighs but there was not enough tissue and blood supply for it to adhere and thus having to start all over.  The next step was to try a full pedal lap transplant where they cut back a full thickness piece of skin just above my left knee and attached my foot to my leg in the shape of a four so that the blood supply and tissue could adhere to my foot.  After several weeks they detached the skin from my leg and finished stitching it to my heel.  It Worked!!  

Even though the doctors were able to reconstruct my foot, many future operations awaited me. With all the damage that was done I not only ended up with arthritis in my foot but painful bone spurs that were removed.  I lost alot of flexibility and motion in my foot due to my achilles being peeled.  With a few surgeries I was given a little more flexibility but not quite the same as my other foot.  The biggest operation was trying to replace the skin that had been removed from my leg to cover my foot.  My left leg right above my knee only had a single layer of skin left on it, the doctors were fearful of internal bleeding due to a scratch or injury not to mention there was a huge indentation as well from removing that much skin and muscle tissue.  So when I was in the 5th grade they put a silicone pouch in my leg right above the indentation and every Friday I would go to the doctor to get a certain amount of silicone injected into the pouch.  It took about a month before the pouch was big enough that I would go into surgery to have it deflated and the stretched skin pushed over my roughly 3" x 4" x 2" deep indentation.  It took four operations until it was fully covered and took up the majority of my 5th grade year.

Needless to say, I am able to wear almost any type of shoe and pretty much able to do the things that I enjoy doing with little to no complications at all.  To share more information with you about lawnmower accidents so my tragic experience hopefully won't happen to your children, please click on the "Know Before U Mow" picture above.  Nearly 10,000 American children are injured each year.  Most are under the age of 6!

Please, know where your children are when mowing and teach them how to be safe on and around lawnmowers!

Awards/Honors

*Mrs Minnesota United States 2007
*Mrs Minnesota America Pageant - '06 & '05 4th RU & Community Service
*Buffalo Lions Talent Contest, Open Division Winner 2006
*WE Fest 2007 Karaoke Contest, Local Finalist
*WE Fest 2006 Karaoke contest, Local Finalist
*WI WDEZ Karaoke Contest, 3rd Place Winner
*K102 MN Idol Top 5 Finalist (couldn't compete in finals due to delivering my daughter Cheyenne the night before and got to announce her birth on the radio)
*K102 Shania Twain Contest - Finalist out of over 500 entrants
*Climbed Dissapointment Peak
*Wisconsin Sr. National Teen-Ager 1995, 1st RU
*Wisconsin Junior Miss Pageant 1994, contestant
*Wisconsin Jr. National Teen-Ager 1993 (first pageant)